Month: July 2009

A friend of mine (Tomo’s) came from Japan to visit!! She arrived on Tuesday and will be here for 2 weeks. She goes to my home church in Tokyo. It’s really nice to see her again and to hang out with her. And it’s also very nice to be able to speak Japanese again…. very very nice. We went shopping yesterday to Old Navy and got the same dress. We’re about the same size so we look like twins 🙂 Now David gets to drive around two little Japanese girls instead of just one! How fun, right?

Any ideas for things to do??

OK I think it’s Tuesday already. It was my turn to write something yesterday… Oh well. Here goes a day late update!

Saturday we had our US reception! David’s mom, Kathy, handled everything to put it all together, and all David and I had to do was to show up on time! (and bring a slide show of the wedding in Japan, which we forgot…) It was at David’s aunt’s church in Huntington Beach, and so many people helped with decorations and food and everything, it was just amazing. I loved the pink and brown and Origami flowers and cherry blossoms. David’s brother Daniel was the MC and DJ, and we had food, music, cake, bouquet and boutnier toss, dance.. all sorts of wedding fun 🙂 I enjoyed watching people dance. I also got to meet a lot of David’s friends and family that I had never met before.

I like how everything is not so formal in America and how it’s primarily about having a good time and not so much about what we’re supposed to do. I mean, I like the Japanese way too, it can be kind of fun sometimes trying to figure out all the invisible rules and “read the air”. I enjoy observing the differences between the two cultures.

Now, weekend’s over and we’re back to business. Today we have college and career Bible study. We are finishing up Ecclesiastes today. It’s a very interesting book. And tomorrow I’ll go get another shot, which will complete my whole immigration package…. finally. But this is not quite the end. I’ll have to wait for months for my conditional green card to come, and then in two years I’m supposed to go through a lot of paperwork again to lift the condition and get a regular green card, which is good for 10 years. This is because there have been so many abuses of the spouse status and now the immigration people are very suspicious of newly-wed, foreign wives asking for a green card. So my immigration saga must go on…

Anyways, I read this this morning. 

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 4:20-21

Amen!

Well, it’s again Monday night, and my turn to write the weekly blog entries. The last week has been pretty busy with two things in particular: job hunting and immigation.

Due to the way the economy is going the place I’m working had to cut back my hours, and may have to let me go entirely in in August, so I’m looking to see what God’s doing in this, and where He’s going to be leading me next, it’s an interesting time to be looking or a job. I’m not in a position to start a career, because as you all know, I’ve already chosen one; Lord willing I’ll be shipping off to Japan as a missionary by the end of 2010. To further complicate things, Tomo and I are hoping to go on partial support with SEND in January, where we’d have to devote 20 hours a week to support raising. This means that for the next six months I’ll need to be working full time to pay the bills, and then be able to drop down to working just 20 hours a week so we can dedicate more time to support raising, and get over to Japan. I’m very curious as to how God’s going to sort this all out, so please be praying with me for God’s provision. He has never left me hanging before, and I don’t anticipate He will this time, still this is yet one further test of faith, to see if I can rely on God to supply all my needs, as I will be forced to do once I’m in Japan in full time ministry.

Meanwhile Tomo’s been busy with filling out mountains of paperwork trying to get her conditional green card so that she can remain in the US legally until we move back to Japan in a year and a half or so. It’s a little frusterating how slow and expensive the whole process is, especially for Tomo. It took a few weeks for us to get a copy of our marriage certificate, which she had to wait on before proceeding to file her adjustment of status, getting a social security card, applying for a work permit, getting a drivers license or being added to my bank account. Since that finally came, all these things are now in process. There were a few vacinations she still had to get here, so she had her first ever tetnus shot today (her arm hurts), and she after I finally secured a drivers manual for her she immediately began pouring through California traffic rules so that she can get her driver’s permit. Soon enough she will be unleashed upon the unsuspecting roads of Orange County, free to go wherever her little heart desires.

 We had prayer meeting tonight, and tomorrow night we’ve got a young adults Bible Study we’re going to, where we’re studying Ecclesiastes. I’ve been reading through Exodus and Jeremiah for my devotions, though not as faithfully as I ought. Something to work on this week.